A Little Bit Different
by senjulover
Summary: An exploration into the adolescence and coming-of-age of Naruto Uzumaki, a trans boy who has a demon fox sealed in his stomach, the label of village-hero to his name and an unrealised crush on his childhood rival. Life's never easy, huh?
1. Chapter 1

**Trans Naruto Centric / Eventual SasuNaru / Coming-of-age / Gender Exploration**

* * *

 _first of all shout out to my lovely friends alex, cameron and jamie for helping me to write this; your input of your own experiences as trans men helped me so much and i feel more comfortable exploring this headcanon knowing it has been approved by men who have experienced similar struggles as the ones i am writing._

 _second, this is going to have short chapters. it's not so much a story as an exploration of my thoughts on a hc i've grown to adore. i really wish there was more diversity of gender expression, sexuality etc in anime but alas. anyway, here's my take._

 _third: if anything i write is offensive, please educate me on how. i myself am nb and have consulted my trans friends in writing this fic to try to avoid any insensitivity but obviously everyone has different experiences and is affected in different ways._

 _lastly: any transphobic/homophobic comments will not be tolerated. no, this isn't canon, however we are all open to interpret characters however we like and as someone who is not cis, it is comforting to think of a character you love as similar to yourself. if mangakas provided more representation in the first place we wouldnt have to divert from canon but anyways. this is just for fun and to explore the growth a lot of us trans/nb folks experienced in our teens, and write how naruto would've dealt with it. so yeah - no negativity._

 _anyway, sorry for the long intro. would love to hear your thoughts as usual. thanks for reading ! (p.s. i promise ill update spiral tapes soon) - E_

* * *

Growing up without parents, without guidance, and without the direction of social norms, Naruto hasn't thought of himself as particularly different. Well, not for that reason. He knows there must be something wrong with him, for the villagers shun him, and he lives alone without guardians or friends to take care of him.

However he never attributes any of the negativity to his chosen identity. To him, it is just who he is. For as long as he can remember, he has been a boy, and he has been Naruto.

It isn't until the very early days of the academy when he walks in on an older boy at the urinals that he realises the other boys have something he doesn't. At first, he is confused. Maybe some boys have that thing between their legs and others don't? As time goes on, and he listens to the boys and girls joke, and sees more boys in the bathrooms, he realises he is the only boy at the academy who doesn't have that thing between his legs. But to him, that's okay. He doesn't look like a girl, and he never feels weird about it. He has always been himself, with nobody to tell him otherwise.

When Iruka and Mizuki finally tell him about the demon sealed in his stomach, the menacing glares of the villagers make sense and though he is horrified, a small sense of relief washes over him that it isn't because he is different to the other boys. Infact, as he graduates the academy and joins Team 7, it appears nobody is actually aware he is different in that way.

He is different because he is a Jinchuuriki, he is different because he is an orphan, he is different because he is a prankster and dead last in the class. He is not different because he is a boy who doesn't have a penis.


	2. Chapter 2

The problems start when he is training with Sasuke one day. They are 13, and although Naruto is a little short for his age, he still feels confident that he looks like any other boy. He realised over the last year that he probably has parts more like the girls from his class, and it worries him that maybe one day his chest will also start to grow, just like Hinata's started to do last year. Not big, not like Anko or Kurenai-sensei, but Naruto notices slowly that some of the girls have begun to get bigger in their chests. Naruto hopes that won't happen to him, but it is a problem he is semi expecting to run into one day.

What he did not expect is _blood_.

As Sasuke tackles him, his fist colliding with Naruto's lower jaw, he tumbles across the ground and lays spread eagled on his back, catching his breath. When he looks at his teammate, he is surprised to catch a confused and somewhat concerned expression on his face.

"What're you looking at, bastard?" He asks, wiping his hand against his face and sitting up, ready to go again.

"You're bleeding." Sasuke says matter of factly.

Naruto wrinkles his nose and looks at the back of his hand for blood, but there is none. It isn't unusual for them to cut each other up a little during their brawls, so he doesn't know why Sasuke is concerned. Besides, he'd discovered one of the only perks of holding the Kyuubi inside him is that he heals very quickly.

"No I'm not." Naruto replies after examining his hand for traces of blood from the punch.

"There." Sasuke points at him, lower than he is expecting. "I didn't use my kunai. I don't know how you got cut that low."

Naruto looks down and is horrified to see a dark blood stain on the crotch of his jumpsuit. He is about to strip off to find the wound when he realises he can't do that with Sasuke here, and so makes some vague excuse and runs off to the bathrooms at the academy. Naruto's dismay only grows when he finds no external wound, but the blood appears to be coming from inside him. Panicking and cursing Sasuke for causing him internal damage, he wipes the blood the best he can and then uses tissue to line his underwear to stop any more blood from seeping through.

When the bleeding hasn't stopped the next day, he considers going to the hospital, but the fear that the nurses will discover he isn't the same as the other boys prevents him.

By day 3 Naruto is convinced he is dying, but formulates a plan to receive treatment whilst remaining anonymous. Although his "sexy-jutsu" had been formulated as a joke more than anything, it appears it would now play a rather helpful role. He transforms, ensuring his female appearance is clothed, and looking his own age rather than older, and strolls into the hospital. When he explains to the nurse that he has been internally bleeding for days and he is beginning to get worried, she just laughed.

"Oh sweetie! Didn't your mother tell you about this? It's called your period and it is completely normal for girls your age! We have some booklets on all that sort of stuff, so I'll just go and get one of those along with a starter pack."

It is the first time anyone has referred to him as a girl and he hates it. He knows it is because he has transformed, his appearance right now is that of a petite girl with long blonde pigtails wearing a cute beige dress and heeled sandals, but it doesn't feel any less uncomfortable. Besides, his horrible niggling brain is asking him what is so different about his sexy jutsu and himself. Besides the larger chest, longer hair and higher pitched voice, their bodies are the same. Does that make him a girl? Naruto doesn't think so.


	3. Chapter 3

_just want to quickly address the review i got last chapter, which has to be one of the rudest reviews ive ever received. i have no objection to criticism, however it is entirely possible to review a piece of art/literature/anything without being a patronising condescending arsehole. sadly you failed miserably in that area. my main objection with your whole review wasn't that you "_ _cannot utterly stand this bit of writing" or anything, but that you described the idea of trans naruto as a "genderbend". to me that is pretty offensive, infact the whole idea of genderbends (headcanoning a character as_ _transgender is not the same as genderbending_ _) is kinda transphobic but whatever. it just goes to show you probably don't really get what this is about. i didnt write this to be popular or anything ,it was very much me and a few friends exploring our own gender identities, experiences and then bonding over them through thinking and talking about how one of our favourite fictional characters might deal with the same issues. it's got no real storyline other than the canon and possibly some exploration into a relationship with sasuke near the end. it's just about how naruto growing up may have dealt with stuff we all also experienced, and thinking that maybe he wouldve had a better time with it all than we did. anyway besides all of your wittering about how i could go down one of two paths blah blah, ive already prewritten most of this with my friends weeks ago when we initially started talking about this whole topic. so yeah. thanks for wasting your time being condescending but i have chosen to ignore your most mighty opinion. sorry!_

* * *

The booklet proves to be a life-saver and a life-ruiner all at the same time. He is mortified to find out he is going to bleed for up to 7 days, once a month for the rest of his life. Well, until he is an old man and then his eggs shrivel up and die or something.

He supposes he is at least grateful that he isn't dying like he initially thought, but the idea of having to hide something like this on missions is giving him anxiety. The booklet specifically stated that washing downstairs is especially important during this time of the month, due to all the gross blood, and that you shouldn't keep those cotton things ( _tampons_ , Naruto reminded himself) inside you for more than 6-8 hours at a time or you risked some horrible sounding thing called "toxic-shock syndrome". Anything with the word "toxic" in it sounded like it should be avoided at all costs.

But how will he find time to wash, to change his sanitary products, to maintain clean clothes while on missions?

Naruto concludes a few weeks later that he should ask Sakura.

"Periods? Naruto that's personal! You shouldn't ask a girl about that stuff!" She scolds him, her cheeks turning pink.

"I didn't mean you personally! I just heard some girls at the academy talking about it and I was wondering how you cope when we go on missions. I never see you taking extra time to do all that girl stuff."

Sakura looks at him in contemplation before answering. "Well, obviously we aren't on missions all the time so it only occasionally lines up with a kunoichi's cycle. However if it does, we're taught a simple jutsu to prevent the egg from being produced that month so our wombs don't shed and therefore the period is avoided. You can't do it all the time because it's bad for your reproductive system, but it's perfectly safe every so often."

Well, that makes a lot more sense. Naruto supposes that the nurse at the hospital assumed he wasn't a ninja and so had only told him about the civilian way of dealing with the monthly bleed.

"That's pretty cool! What's the jutsu? Is it hard?"

"Why do you care?" Sakura looked at him, turning her nose up.

"I just think it's interesting. It's cool you can do a jutsu like that, Sakura-chan!"

That seems to warm her up a little because she looks quite pleased with herself at the compliment. "I suppose it is pretty cool that I can do a jutsu like that. It's not difficult though, not for me anyway. You just do the signs for serpent, hare, dog and then place your hand once your womb and expel a burst of chakra. We learn it when we first enter the academy." She finishes smugly.

And that is that. Naruto's worries are solved for another year.


	4. Chapter 4

_response to twisted pxl: just to address your two main concerns/queries; they sort of link together.  
in my belief konoha (meaning the elders, hiruzen as hokage, the general population) pay so little attention to naruto as an individual compared to as the carrier of the kyuubi that nobody notices. those who know, from his care as an infant, do not care enough to make it widespread news. hiruzen literally left 5 year old naruto to live alone with just monthly allowance, i dont think he cares whether naruto is male or female or what he identifies as. this is also why naruto has a lot 'easier' time and does not face one of the main problems my friends and i faced through our adolescence and transition; the opinions of others.  
i've written slightly unrealistically in that naruto fully passes from a young age (with the help of transformation though) but honestly i believe all young trans folks would have a far more pleasant experience transitioning if the pressures and judgements of society, friends, family weren't there. naruto has grown up alone, without any form of guidance and so doesn't press judgement on himself as a bi-product of the norms of society — he doesn't know the norms due to his neglect (both a blessing and a curse). he also doesn't have anyone to judge him for it as a child because he is already being ostracised for being a jinchuuriki, and nobody pays enough attention to him as a person when hes young for them to realise anything else is different about him.  
i hope that clears up things a little? again, just the person interpretation of a few friends! thank you for your review!_

* * *

Just after Sasuke leaves the village, the problem Naruto is expecting to encounter arises. Gradually, his chest begins to swell. Not massively, at first it is barely noticeable, but over several months the problem begins to grow and Naruto begins to panic; it is unsightly, his body no longer looks right at all.

At first his solution is to bind his chest with bandages, but it is uncomfortable and once the issue gets to a certain size it is impossible to keep them bound sufficiently.

Unable to ask one of his kunoichi friends how to deal with this problem without it being glaringly obvious, Naruto takes matters into his own hands.

At first, the transformation jutsu takes a lot of willpower and chakra to keep up, but after the second month of continuous transformation, his body and brain get used to keeping it in place and it is like second nature. In the morning — get up, shower, eat, transform. Before bed — wash face, brush tea, undress, un-transform. Not a major transformation; just the flattening of his chest. It works a treat, so well that he is able to use the male baths with Jiraiya-sensei nobody bats an eyelid.

Naruto is thrilled at the effectiveness of the results and thanks his humongous chakra stores for his ability to keep it up without hindering his ability to fight. The discomfort Naruto feels in his own skin when he isn't transformed is worth any expenditure of chakra in his opinion. The only time it became an issue is when his chakra stores are so depleted that his body naturally releases the jutsu in order to retain as much strength as possible. At these times, Naruto tries his best to keep his arms firmly over his chest until enough chakra returns to reinstate the jutsu. He releases it at night once he is safely under his blankets and sleep takes him so he doesn't have to think about how itchy and warped his body feels with the extra fat sitting atop his ribcage. Other than that, it is an almost permanent transformation.


	5. Chapter 5

As he gets older, the only amendment to his transformation jutsu is that he adds a few inches of extra height to himself. He experiments with transforming his lower half but his knowledge on what usual male genitalia looks like is somewhat limited — leering at other men's penises in the public baths is never the best idea if one wants to bathe unscathed. He also finds that transforming _that_ organ requires more concentration and chakra than the upper half, so he decides not to bother. It isn't worth it—nobody saw down there and besides, Naruto has never really taken issue with it.

He isn't ashamed; Naruto has never been ashamed of this part of himself. It is more _everything_ _else_ that is the problem.

As the years go on and the differences between biological men and women become more pronounced, he finds himself increasingly uncomfortable and unfamiliar with his 'natural', untransformed state. If he ever catches his reflection when he is untransformed, it is like looking at a distorted mirror image. In his head he is _Naruto_ —a 'normal' teenage boy, with a flat chest and abs and biceps and a strong male jawline and hairy legs and big hands and feet and other _manly_ qualities. So when he catches himself looking curvier— almost more fragile looking—his head begins to spin and he feels itchy; like the body he looks at simply doesn't belong to him. His transformed state is his real identity—not this weird, lumpy form he presents at night when he is alone.


	6. Chapter 6

When the war is over and Sasuke and himself finally face off, Naruto is so involved in the overwhelming heartache and panic of the situation that his brain simply forgets to hide his body when the transformation lifts due to extreme chakra depletion. He doesn't think about it, not until Sasuke looks—really _looks_ —and an expression of confusion and then shock passes over his features. After, they exchange their final blows and pass into a world Naruto can only describe as dream-like. He sees Sasuke's heart, his hurt, his memories, and Sasuke sees his. When they finally come to, they talk—laying with their severed arms leaking blood into a puddle between them—and Sasuke cries, but Naruto pretends not to see. After maybe an hour of silence, Sasuke speaks up.

"You never told anyone?" he asks quietly.

"Told anyone what?"

"That you're…" Sasuke's voice tapers off but his gaze drifts down, settles on his chest, and then comes back up again.

Naruto looks down at his own body and a moment of horror passes him as he sees his chest. But then he realises that in seeing his heart, Sasuke has also seen his deepest, best kept secret.

"I guess not."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? Why do you think? I never thought anything of it—not until the academy—and by then I already had enough to prove. I didn't need another thing to worry about people judging me for."

Sasuke doesn't say anything else, just continues to look at him, until the sun is high in the sky and Sakura and Kakashi find them. By then, Naruto's transformation is safely back in place and the others are none the wiser.


	7. Chapter 7

Months later, he is sits with Sasuke in the living room of his apartment. They're watching TV. Naruto just got back from a mission and this is something he requests of Sasuke; simple, un-interrupted time together to make up for the years of their adolescence lost fighting each other.

"Isn't it exhausting?" Sasuke suddenly says.

"Huh?" Naruto asks, a donut half way into his mouth as he drags his eyes away from the screen to look confusedly at his friend.

"Your transformation jutsu. Doesn't it tire you out? I've never seen you without it, only…" He cuts himself off. They don't talk about the Valley of the End.

Naruto rubs his hand behind his head. "Nah, I'm used to it. I don't even realise I'm doing it anymore."

Sasuke seems to contemplate this for a moment. "You realise they could easily make the changes permanent. With surgery, and hormones. If you told Sakura, I think they could operate on your chest without any difficulty. Removing fat tissue from your chest is surely a lot easier than manually repairing every shattered bone in Rock Lee's legs."

"Maybe I'll think about it. Why? Do you think I need it?"

That appears to confuse Sasuke and he looks away. He's never been good with words and it appears to stress him out. "No. You look fine." He corrects himself. "I mean you look like an idiot, but what's new? I just thought...it would be easier for you."


	8. Chapter 8

Though he dismisses it at the time, 6 weeks later, Naruto swallows his nerves and tells Sakura. He is shocked when she doesn't seem surprised.

"You _knew_?" He asks incredulously.

"I wasn't sure, after all you sure _look_ like a boy, and _act_ like one too." She laughs. "But ever since I was 13 my period has been syncing and unsyncing with someone, and I could never work out who was spending enough time around for it to do that. It isn't Tsunade-sama, it isn't Ino, and it isn't my mom. And then you've always been very private about washing, and using the bathroom on missions, compared to other guys. And I occasionally noticed the hints of a transformation jutsu about your person, though my logical brain attributed it to the unusual Kyuubi's—sorry, Kurama's—chakra spilling out. This makes a lot more sense though—but I would've never guessed if you didn't just tell me."

To say Naruto is shocked is an understatement, and he can't tell if he is relieved that his friend evidently doesn't care, or if he is mortified that his best kept secret isn't so well-kept after all. It's not like Sakura _knew_ , but she certainly didn't seem all that surprised. Naruto is also comforted by the fact that she says she wouldn't have guessed otherwise.

"I'm really happy you've told me though. This is a big thing for you obviously, I'm glad you trust me with it. I still think the same of you though. I want you to know—you're still my annoying, obnoxious, stupid, overly-spontaneous teammate; nothing could ever change the way I see you, even if you are village hero and self-proclaimed number-one-Hokage-candidate now!" She laughs and it makes Naruto feel warm. Another friend who accepts him for him. He feels lucky.

"But why did you tell me now, after so long?"

"I'd like you to try and operate on me."


	9. Chapter 9

They have no real reason to wait around as Sakura assures him that with her advanced medical ninjutsu this is not a complicated operation.

So two weeks later, Naruto is laying in a hospital bed, staring down at his flat chest with the widest grin on his face. There is no jutsu; this is his body. When Sasuke comes to visit him, he gives him a kilowatt smile and Sasuke laughs lightly.

"This is one of your better ideas, bastard."

"Tch."

Sasuke smiles again.


	10. Chapter 10

Tsunade begins to administer a shot of male hormones, once every few days, and then after a couple of weeks, gives him the shots to take home and administer himself. At first, he doesn't feel much different, but gradually the differences begin to appear. Sasuke notices first.

"You've got a hair."

"I've got lots of hairs." He shoots back, shoving his head in his friend's direction, pulling at the mass of blonde sprouting from his scalp.

"No, idiot, I meant—" He leans forward and tentatively pulls at Naruto's chin. He feels a twinge. "—you have a hair. On your face."

The grin that spreads across Naruto's face is ridiculously wide, as he runs to the mirror and examines the tiny blonde hair sprouting from his chin.

"A hair!" he smiles in disbelief, and Sasuke rolls his eyes but returns the smile.


	11. Chapter 11

_please leave favourites and reviews if youre enjoying—or any thoughts at all!_

* * *

Another three months later and Naruto is 18 but his voice sounds like that of a 13 year old. It keeps breaking and cracking as his vocal cords adjust to the deepening sound of his voice. After a particularly loud squeak when Naruto tries to sing a higher note while mimicking the song on the radio, Sakura laughs so hard she has to run to the bathroom as to not pee herself.

"I don't remember your voice ever doing this." Naruto huffs at Sasuke, who is sat on Sakura's sofa picking at a bowl of salad.

"My voice broke pretty early I guess—before the academy."

Naruto hums in annoyance. "Not fair—this sucks—I sound ridiculous."

"What's new?"

Naruto throws a cushion at his head, but secretly he thanks Sasuke for acting like this is all no big deal.


	12. Chapter 12

Sasuke stands in front of him, a razor in one hand and a can of shaving foam propped under the stump of his other arm.

"These are for you. Now, shut your big mouth for once and just watch and do as I say."

Naruto nods, and motions zipping his lips together as he takes the items off his friend. He watches silently, paying close attention as Sasuke applies the foam to his own face; from just below his ears, down his jaw and onto his chin, across his cheeks and upper lip, and slightly down his neck. Naruto mimics, though he knows he still doesn't have as much facial hair as Sasuke. It's getting there though, and after months of growth Sasuke finally cornered him and demanded he shave the 'bum-fluff'.

Sasuke then takes his razor, wets it, and slowly guides it around his face in steady downwards motions. Naruto can hear the blade shaving away the thin covering of stubble on Sasuke's cheeks and jawline, leaving smooth, hairless skin in its wake.

Naruto again copies Sasuke's movements, and grins at his face when he is done.

"You only cut yourself in about 50 places." Sasuke says, his voice condescending but Naruto knows he isn't serious.

"Shut it. I think I did pretty damn good for my first time! Feel how soft my face is!"

He grabs Sasuke's hand and makes him run his fingers on his face, smearing a little blood from the nicks around in the process.

"Amazing. The blood really adds to the charm you know."

Naruto laughs and punches the other's shoulder, but when he meets Sasuke's gaze he hopes his eyes are conveying his gratitude.


	13. Chapter 13

_not all trans* folk decide to get top and bottom surgery, or either for that matter. its personal and depends on how the individual feels. it doesnt make your gender any less valid whether you choose to transition physically the whole way, part way or not at all. please be respectful of this ! comments are welcome though :)_

* * *

When Sakura approaches him with a proposition he hadn't even considered, his mind blanks for several minutes.

"An operation? Down _there_?"

"I've spoken to Tsunade and she said it's possible to...craft it. We'd use the nerve endings already present down there to give it feeling and you'd use chakra directed into the area to make it—" She pauses and flushes a little "—erect."

Naruto feels his ears and cheeks go red but tries to swallow the embarrassment down because he knows this is Sakura's job as a medical professional and it's probably just as awkward for her to explain this sort of stuff to her childhood friend as it is for him to hear it.

"Think about it, Naruto. Let me know. It's your body, but I think we could do a pretty good job if that's what you wanted."

When Naruto gets home that evening, he stares at himself in the mirror, naked for once, and scrutinises what he sees. His chest is flat as a board and there's no scars thanks to Kurama's chakra, but below the waist is still different to the other men in the village. Naruto transforms, and he feels the unfamiliar weight between his legs, twisting and turning his reflection in the mirror before changing back to his natural appearance. He isn't sure if he's surprised to realise he doesn't want to change this part of himself; it has never been a problem for him. He didn't even realise it isn't typically a "male" organ until he reached his teens, by which time it is just another part of his body. The idea of something so familiar, something he has never had qualms with, being replaced purely for the aesthetic of looking how he is "meant" to look just doesn't sit right with him.

For once, Naruto smiles at his reflection. He is happy with how he looks now. This is okay. This is him.


	14. Chapter 14

_review please! let me know your thoughts :) i love speaking to other trans* members of the naruto community_

* * *

He isn't sure whether to tell Sasuke or not, but his big mouth gets the better of him and tells him anyway. Sasuke looks slightly uncomfortable at first, and Naruto worries maybe the decision he's comfortable with is something others won't be.

"You think I made the wrong choice?" Naruto asks tentatively, unsure as to why Sasuke's opinion matters so much. After all, as Sakura said, it is _his_ body to do with as he likes.

"No. I just never really considered that you didn't have the same..equipment as me." He looks away, and Naruto notices a slight flush on his pale cheeks.

"Is that a problem for you? Do I make you uncomfortable by being different? By being myself?!" He can feel his temper rising, more fuelled by upset than real anger.

Sasuke looks at him, shock passing his features momentarily to be replaced by confusion.

"No—no. That isn't what I meant." He pauses, as if trying to find the right words. "It just never occurred to me that it mattered what you had going on _down there_. You've always been a boy regardless."

Relief floods Naruto's body and he smiles widely.

"Besides, it shouldn't matter—do what you're comfortable with. It would be weird if you were to start doing things for the approval of others, or to fit in. You've always been unashamedly _you."_

Naruto feels like he is about to cry when Sasuke adds:

"Admittedly, _you_ means an idiot who doesn't know when to shut his fat mouth, but it's you all the same."

He swings at Sasuke's head with a laugh and when the punch misses, he jumps up and chases his friend around the apartment, Sasuke cursing him for being childish but continuing to run ahead out of reach all the same, a small smile on his often down-turned lips. Being different never did matter, to either of them.


	15. Chapter 15

_this chapter is slightly more sensitive. trigger warning: misgendering, transphobia, discrimination. let me know what you think :) reviews are super appreciated!_  
 _replies: yumistar - yep, i imagine sasuke is pretty embarrassed talking about sex related stuff since he comes from a household that was very traditional and uptight. thanks for your reviews :)_

* * *

It is at one of the Hokage training meetings that Naruto first truly experiences discrimination for his gender. Homura and Koharu are there, going over some documents around his past experience and qualifications in order to plan ahead in what he must train and focus in. Homura seems to come across something he finds questionable, because he mutters something to Koharu and passes over an old, slightly tattered document.

"Uzumaki. There seems to be an error in your birth certificate. It states here you were born—7lb4oz , October 10th at 8:33pm, _Female_."

Naruto feels himself break into a cold sweat at that word—female. He hates it in reference to himself. He _hates_ it. Female, woman, girl. They've never been words to describe him, not for as long as he has known what they meant. Growing up, nobody paid enough attention, nobody cared enough to realise he was identifying as different to what he had been labelled with at birth. It worked in his benefit in a lot of ways—so many people still had no idea he wasn't the exact same as every other man in the village. It also meant he had not encountered the discrimination Sasuke occasionally voiced his fear of—

" _Naruto, you realise some people aren't okay with individuals being different?"_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"Times are changing, view points are becoming more open, accepting but—the older generation. They have prejudice against those with differing sexualities and gender identities. If the council finds out about your gender they might try and use it against you as Hokage candidate."_

He'd ignored Sasuke's warnings, having experienced little-to-no discrimination his whole life, at least not for this. Now, however, those words floated round his head as he swallowed. He tried to play it off—

"Yeah, I was born with XX chromosomes y'know? I'm still a dude though, it's no big deal right?"

There's a long pause—too long. Naruto swallows again, his mouth producing no saliva and his palms sticky. This has been his goal his whole life—Hokage. Leader of the village, saviour, respected and loved. He has wanted this for as long as he has been able to talk. Naruto never considered that being _himself_ would negatively impact his chance. He feels sick.

"You mean you're a woman? Posing as a man? You've lied to the village all this time? Even as a candidate for the seat of Hokage?"

Naruto tries to keep calm, but he can feel his blood boiling and Kurama's own irritation adding to the mix.

"No, no. I have the chromosomes of a person you label 'female' but Sakura—I mean Dr Haruno—says gender is actually something mental. So your genitalia, hormone levels, chromosomes have to do with your 'sex' not your 'gender' so I'm not a woman at all I'm actually a man just like Kakashi-sensei or my dad or the late Lord Third." He says in a hurry, words falling over each other. Naruto smiles, begging them silently to understand. He's a _dude_ goddammit!

"But you have female characteristics?"

"I mean...yes. Sexually. I have ovaries, oestrogen, XX chromosomes. But I've had surgery on my chest —see! Flat as a board! And Baa-chan—I mean Tsunade-sama—put me on testosterone injections so I actually now have the same amount of male hormones as any other of your _male_ ninja!" He's rambling again, panicked.

Silence and then—

"You have a vagina?" Koharu asks rudely, her wrinkled brow creasing in disgust.

Naruto bristles.

"That's rather personal don't you think? Did you ask Kakashi-sensei the same thing when he came for his inspections for Hokage? Did you ask him how big his dick was too? Oh hey—Hatake Kakashi—get your cock out we wanna see how big it is! Is that what you said? What gives you the right to ask this stuff just cause you see me as different huh?! Nobody gave a shit when I was a child, alone in an apartment, but now I'm powerful you suddenly care what I've got in my fucking pants?!" His voice has risen to a shout, small tendrils of red chakra just curling out from his arms as he waves them expressively as he talks. He feels Kurama growl his agreement, the sound echoing faintly from his chest into the room. Koharu and Homura freeze, eyes darting from Naruto, to each other, to the door. Soon enough some ANBU appear and Naruto is asked to leave.

"Your applicable will be put on hold until we figure the proper solution to your... _illness_."

Naruto has never felt so revolted by the world in his life. Even Obito's and Madara's plan for world domination—or world _peace_ —as they called it, made more sense than this.


End file.
